Hey guys! Hinata is entering the story for keeps. I wanted to flesh out Suzuka and Naruto's relationship first before adding Hinata's important role into the story. Thanks for being so patient with me.

Disclaimer: Riyuto-san does not own Naruto. He is still sure that no one would sue if he didn't say it; he is just doing it for the sake of doing it.

Chapter 6: Imposter

Naruto was anxious.

He found his thoughts lingered over Hinata more often than naught that week. However, he wouldn't get the chance to think for long. Bad things kept happening to him on a regular basis. It ranged from small things like stepping in puddles or tripping over a small animal, to nearly getting his head smashed by falling pots. Heck, once he almost got stabbed in the eye because some kids were playing ninja and thought it would be a good idea to throw several shuriken at his friend. The other kid dodged, but Naruto happened to be walking by when he did.

If Naruto hadn't been such a capable ninja, he was convinced he would be dead right now.

However, no matter what happened, he couldn't get Suzuka's question out of his head. Why did it bother him so much when it came to Hinata? He felt an answer balancing on the tip of his tongue, but it never manifested into anything intelligent.

Suzuka didn't bring it up anymore. She resumed her quiet girl technique, which had a habit of driving Naruto insane. Every once in a while she would observe him, and he would swear she was going to say something, but then resumed staring at a wall.

When he had bought her new clothes, she only thanked him and said nothing else on the matter. But he wouldn't let anything get him down, he refused to. If he wanted to prove to Suzuka that this curse was no big deal, he had to be serious about it. He had hoped she would start showing some signs of life by now, but she was still the same as before.

The only difference was that she asked random questions every now and then.

Naruto glanced at his calendar. He had heard from Neji that Hinata would be returning to the village from her mission today. Thinking back on Suzuka's question for the billionth time, anxiety filled his being and his head fell onto his table.

Suzuka sat across from him, passively observing. Honestly, having someone stare at you all day every day got to him at first, but now he was just used to it.

He looked up at her and blinked. Today, he had a plan. He was going to try and show her around the village. Maybe by showing her around the village, she would get a sense of this being her new home, and she would get comfortable.

He wasn't too sure it would do anything, but it was worth a try at least.

Suzuka pulled her new purple-pinkish jacket on, and stood by the door, waiting for Naruto.

He led her around the village that entire morning. He explained to her how the village had to be completely rebuilt after being destroyed a year and a half ago, but she didn't seem too interested. Looking around, he was still amazed at just how the village looked the same as before, albeit with a few landmarks missing.

His master plan was to eventually show her the Hokage monument up close and show her his father. If that didn't impress her, nothing would.

He took her by the ponds and to one of the civilian parks. Instead of joining all the other kids running around and playing, Suzuka stood by Naruto's side. He tried to get her to play, but she didn't respond at all.

During the tour, Naruto noticed several different women giving him strange looks. At first, he thought it was just his imagination. But when he led Suzuka down a busy street, several people glared at him as they continued down the street.

"What gives?" Naruto asked himself. No one glared at him like that, at least not anymore.

"Did you do something bad?" Suzuka asked blankly.

He shook his head. "I don't think so."

"Then it's probably the curse." She stated.

She continued forward, but Naruto froze.

'C-curse?' He looked around frantically. If this was the curse, then something really bad was going to happen. A familiar laugh echoed through his mind.

"I can't believe this little curse is getting to you so much, brat!" Laughed Kurama.

Naruto's brow twitched. 'Cut it out, Kurama! It's not funny! If this curse gets me, you're gone too!'

The fox rolled his eyes. "Trust me, I know. Who do you think has been diluting the curse this whole time?"

Naruto blinked. "Di-what?"

Kurama sighed. "It means I've been making it smaller than it should be. Honestly, with all that negative chakra coming at you I'm surprised you've lasted this long." The demon fox laughed again.

Before Naruto could respond, he noticed Suzuka was waiting for him up ahead. He shook his head and quickly shortened the gap between them.

"Sorry, I was talking to Kurama." He explained.

"The fox that lives in your body?" She asked bluntly.

He nodded, but she didn't ask anything else.

While he continued his tour of the village, he heard someone call his name. Naruto and Suzuka turned to see a man with dark sunglasses and red spiked hair stomping towards him. He looked like he was mad enough to kill someone. He held the hand of a woman with long brown hair and blue eyes, practically dragging her through the street. She frantically pleaded with him to stop.

"Look Akiko, it's not a big deal! Just drop it, please!" She begged.

"No way in hell Sae!" Akiko barked.

Naruto looked down at Suzuka for support in confusion. She shrugged.

Akiko get right up in Naruto's face immediately, glaring daggers at the blond.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Don't play dumb!" Akiko yelled, attracting the attention of several people nearby. He jabbed his finger into Naruto's face. "You know, just because your this big hero, it doesn't give you the right to do anything you want!"

Naruto blinked several times, sweat forming on his brow. "Err…what did I do?" He asked, confused.

Akiko grunted, but he pulled his finger back. He tightened his hand into a fist, but he held it by his side. He continued glaring at Naruto. "You…how can you play innocent? I thought you were better than that! I thought you were a good guy."

Naruto stood completely still, shocked into silence, and lost in confusion. What was going on?

Akiko snorted. "I'll let you off with a warning, since we owe ya one for saving the village. But if you do something like that again, I'll end you."

Naruto looked from Akiko to Sae, his mind racing. She flinched and looked away. Naruto's eyes widened. He understood that look just fine. She was afraid of him, but he was completely lost as to why.

They turned and left quickly. Naruto glanced around at the people still watching. A few shook their heads at him and continued along their way.

What was going on?

The weird looks continued throughout the day, but it got worse. Every once in a while, a girl would march up to Naruto with tears in her eyes and slap him. A few yelled at him, calling him a pervert before storming off. It would only make them even angrier when he tried to ask what he did wrong.

Now, Naruto sported several bruises on the side of his face. His cheek stung like crazy.

"What the heck is going on today?" He thought aloud.

Just then, he heard a familiar yell. Reluctantly, he turned to see Yamanaka Ino running at him in full sprint, fist cocked back and ready to fly. Suzuka wisely stepped to the side, which distracted Naruto long enough to forget to block. With a mighty roar, Ino slammed her fist into Naruto's cheek, sending him careening through the air and slamming into a wall. He left a very nice indent as he peeled off and hit the ground.

His head spun, and he could have sworn there were three Inos marching up to him. Suzuka quickly appeared at his side, but at a safe distance.

"I've finally found you!" She roared. "Do you think you can get away with what you did so easily?"

"What did I do?" He asked desperately.

Ino's eye twitched. Not a good sign.

"How! Dare! You!" She yelled. "You think you can just…just…flirt around with me and grope me? And then insult me my saying that I'm not bouncy enough for you, and get away with it?"

Naruto felt a rush of emotion run through his body. He sprang to his feet defiantly. "I never did any of that!" He protested, cheeks flushed. The thought flashed through his mind that something like this had happened to all of the other girls that had hit him earlier.

"Don't try to lie your way out of this one!" She snapped. "You used to do some pretty low things, Naruto. But I guess it was only a matter of time before you regressed. Don't worry; I'll put you out of our misery."

He growled, then remembered he had a witness that could prove his innocence. He glanced down at Suzuka. "Okay, explain how I could have done that when I was with her a few minutes ago!" He exclaimed, gesturing to the little girl beside him.

Ino finally realized Suzuka was even there. She looked the child over several times before her brow lowered in confusion. "Who is this?" She asked.

"This is Suzuka. Some things happened, and now she lives with me. I've been with her the whole time today!"

Ino gave Naruto a suspicious glance before crouching down to be eye level with Suzuka. She extended a hand. "Hello, I'm Yamanaka Ino." She said kindly.

Suzuka stared at the hand before reluctantly accepting it. She said nothing in return.

"Not very social, is she?" Ino observed.

Naruto shrugged. He was just thankful she wasn't trying to rip his head off for the moment. "Yeah. I'm working on it."

Ino locked eyes with Suzuka. "Suzuka-chan, is Naruto telling the truth?" Suzuka nodded blankly. "Would you ever lie for him?" Suzuka shook her head.

Ino tilted her head back, closed her eyes and sighed. She turned back to Naruto and stood up. "Okay, I'll believe you…for now, for Suzuka's sake. If I find proof otherwise, you're dead."

"Err…thanks." Naruto said.

Ino folded her arms in thought. "If it wasn't you, then who was it earlier?"

"Transformation jutsu." Suzuka stated.

Both shinobi looked down at her. "What?" Ino asked.

"Transformation jutsu. Someone is impersonating Naruto." She offered.

Ino looked from her to Naruto.

"She's really smart." Naruto said. "All she does is observe everything all day every day."

Ino nodded. "It would make sense if I think about it. But why would somebody want to impersonate Naruto?"

Naruto eye twitched. "Hey, there are tons of reasons someone would want to! I'm the big hero that saved the village, remember?"

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to go and look for the other Naruto, the one without the kid." She smiled at Suzuka. "It was very nice meeting you."

She took off running down the street. Naruto and Suzuka stood and watched her until she turned a corner and vanished.

Naruto growled. "She never apologized for hitting me!"

Suzuka looked up at him, and her lips parted. Was she going to say something else?

She closed her mouth and returned her gaze to the street ahead.

The blond looked around. He spotted a tall building and nodded. That would be the perfect place to get a view of the area. Maybe he could spot his imposter from up there. He tucked Suzuka under his arm and ran up the wall and leapt into the air. He landed gracefully on the top of the building and put her down.

He glanced around the local area. "Do you see him?" He asked Suzuka.

She pointed at him without betraying any emotion.

He blinked at her. 'Is she trying to make a joke?' He wondered.

"Umm…any other mes?" He asked.

She looked around on all sides, and then shook her head.

Naruto smirked. He put his hands into his favorite seal and suddenly there were 100 Naruto's standing around on the surrounding buildings. He noticed Suzuka seemed slightly interested, as she kept looking at all of the different Narutos. He felt his confidence grow.

"Okay guys, you know what to do! Spread out and find this impos-"

"How will you know when you find him?" Suzuka asked, cutting him off.

"Huh?"

"If all of the clones look the same, how are they supposed to tell who the imposter is?"

Every single Naruto fell silent. Suzuka raised a point. They needed a plan. 'I could use sage mode, but I can't make a lot of shadow clones with it. I could use Kurama's help, but I don't want to accidentally destroy things. Aargh! What the heck do I do?' He thought.

Suzuka obviously saw through his frustration. "How about a code word?"

"Code word?" Muttered Naruto, followed by the echo of his clones.

She nodded, and he grinned at the idea. "Yeah, a codeword." His clones cheered their approval. "Okay, the codeword is ramen! If you run into each other, just say ramen. If they don't say it back, it's the imposter! Dispel yourself and I'll deal with him! Oh, and watch out for Ino out there! She'll probably try to kill you if she sees you!"Now go!"

"Hai!" Echoed the chorus of Narutos. They vanished into the air.

He decided to wait for his clones to get back to him. They could move faster than he could with Suzuka. He sat down and crossed his legs, leaning back against the wall.

"Well? I thought this curse was supposed to be bad." He said to her. She turned to look at him, but didn't sit down beside him. "This is nothing." 'Unless you count that thing with Ino.' He noted mentally. He refused to bring it up ever again.

"The things that happen in the beginning…are a warning of things to come." She replied.

A cool breeze swept through them as they fell into silence.

"Why did you not get nervous around Ino, even though she is a girl your age?" She asked out of the blue.

Naruto's head snapped to her. "What?" He regained himself quickly. "Well, it's because she's a friend of mine."

"Then why do you get nervous around Hinata?"

Naruto froze. Again! She asked again! "Why…why are you so interested in her? This is the second time you've brought it up."

Suzuka averted her gaze. Naruto was stunned by how shy she was acting. Granted she still didn't show emotion, but he got the feeling she didn't really want to answer.

Finally, she offered something. "Because I've never seen…two people in love before."

Several different sensations hit Naruto all at once. He was shocked by her answer, embarrassed at a maximum level, and suddenly found it very hard to form intelligent sentences.

"Wha…who…why do…I don't…huh?" Was pretty much all he could muster. His cheeks felt like they were on fire. His mouth hung open, but no words came out.

She continued. "For the past four years, I've been passed around from person to person, and I never felt any genuine love between the people that would take me in." She paused, looking up at him. "Until now."

Naruto paused. He remembered earlier what he had told Ino. "She's really smart. All she does is observe everything all day every day." He knew how smart she was, and how she seemed to be very good at making observations about people. Did that mean….

Naruto was jolted out of his thoughts as he received the memory of one of his clones.

The clone raced through the streets of Konoha. Once he saw Ino, but managed to duck away and run the opposite direction. He ran into a few other clones, and had no problems with delivering and receiving the code word.

However, he found one Naruto walking the streets. He ran up to him, and the Naruto about jumped out of his boots.

"Ramen." Said the clone.

The Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What?" He asked.

The clone smirked, took note of where he was, and dispelled himself immediately.

Naruto smirked.

"Found him! No time to waste!" He proclaimed. He grabbed Suzuka and tucked her under his arm. He pushed all his chakra to his legs. "Hang on tight." He advised her.

She nodded, and Naruto blasted off of the roof. He tore through the air at great speed. He knew exactly where he was going, and he was determined to not let this guy get away. Suzuka never complained once, but she did have a death grip on his jacket.

Naruto located and landed at the area the clone had found the imposter. He scanned the streets, but didn't see him.

"You're not getting away." He muttered.

He went to the top of a building, put Suzuka down, and slipped into sage mode. This way he would be able to sense all living things around him. He would check every living person in the area until he found the imposter.

There were several different entities, but only one felt a little fowler than the rest, and it was approaching another person quickly.

Naruto stood and picked Suzuka up again. It wasn't far away, just around the corner. He leapt to the corresponding rooftop and peered down.

There! He spotted the imposter. If Naruto hadn't known better, he would have sworn it was a shadow clone. But he did, and he was angry.

"Found you." He muttered.

The imposter Naruto gestured friendly to a girl in the street. He smiled arrogantly, and began talking to the girl. Naruto couldn't hear what he was saying, but it startled the girl. Naruto got a good look at her, and his heart about skipped a beat.

It was Hinata. The imposter was going to do what he did to Ino to her. Naruto gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. "Over my dead body!"

He grabbed Suzuka, leapt to the ground, put her down gently, and then rushed at the imposter.

The imposter was none the wiser as he stared greedily at her chest. Hinata had tears in her eyes. But they weren't of joy, she seemed…scared. "So I was thinking baby, we should go out to dinner. And maybe afterwards you will let me play with those perfect brea-"

Naruto leapt up into the air and, before the imposter even had a chance to turn and catch a glimpse of Naruto, slammed his feet into the imposter's cheek, sending him flailing through the air and smashing into a wall.

Hinata let out a surprised gasp as she watched this.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

She nodded, but still seemed very confused. "W-what's going on?" She asked.

The imposter collapsed to the ground, and fell flat on his face. There was a puff of smoke, and then it was no longer a splitting image of Naruto lying on the ground. Naruto approached and got a good look at him.

He couldn't see his face, but he noticed he was tall. His hair was brown, long, and messy. Naruto wanted to interrogate him, but the guy was unconscious.

Hinata came up beside him. She looked the strange man over and sighed in relief. "Thank you f-for saving me, Naruto-kun." She said, smiling shyly.

Naruto blushed for reasons he couldn't say. "He didn't…umm…do anything to you, did he?" He asked.

Hinata's cheeks flushed crimson. "No." She replied.

Naruto nodded. "I'm glad I caught this creep before he tricked you into thinking he was me." He said, remembering what had happened with Ino earlier.

Hinata bit her lip. "But…I k-knew he wasn't you."

Naruto turned to her, eyes lit with question. "How?"

She smiled shyly. "I knew there was no way you would do something like that, Naruto-kun."

"You…knew?" He asked, shocked.

She nodded.

Their eyes met, and the gaze lingered for a few moments. They both blushed, and looked away from one another. Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Umm…welcome back from your mission, I guess."

"T-thank you." She replied.

Suzuka came to stand by Naruto, and stared up at Hinata.

Hinata smiled sweetly at Suzuka. "Hello Suzuka-chan. Are you okay?" She asked.

Suzuka nodded.

The imposter on the ground stirred. He pushed himself up to his knees, and he started laughing. When he looked up at Naruto, the blond winced. He wasn't sure if he looked like this, or if the kick had damaged his face to the point of being butt ugly.

"You think you're so cool, Uzumaki Naruto?" He asked through broken teeth and a bloody mouth. "Swooping in and cramping my style?"

"You're style? You were impersonating me!" Naruto snapped.

The man smirked. "Of course." His eyes fell lustfully onto Hinata.

Naruto immediately got in between the two of them. "Don't even think about it."

The man laughed. "So quick to anger. You might want to calm down, before the Kyuubi comes out and kills everyone."

Naruto scowled. "Kurama isn't going to hurt anyone. He's my friend. Now tell me why you were impersonating me. Then I'm going to take you to prison."

He laughed again, like prison was some sort of hilarious joke. "Sure. You see, you got in our way. We don't like that very much."

"We? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"Not telling!" The man yelled. He threw a flash bang at the ground.

Naruto wasn't fooled at all. In the flash, he caught the man by the neck and pinned him to the ground hard.

"You're not going anywhere." Growled Naruto.

"You…how did you know?" The man asked.

"I'm still in sage mode. I can sense you."

The man groaned heavily as Hinata and Suzuka came to Naruto's side.

After dropping the man off at the local police station and explaining what he had done, Naruto Hinata and Suzuka went on their way.

"What did he mean by we?" Naruto asked. It had been bugging him ever since the confrontation.

"I don't know." Hinata replied. "D-do you think he out for revenge on you?"

He looked at her, which made her blush and look forward. "What do you mean?"

"W-well…you've done a lot of good, Naruto-kun. Maybe…he w-was a bad guy looking for revenge." She offered.

He considered it, but…. "But then why did he try to flirt with every girl in the village? I don't understand." He looked down at Suzuka, hoping for some wise advice, but she seemed too interested in Naruto and Hinata than what they were talking about.

"I'm not sure. Sorry."

"Why are you apologizing for?" He asked.

"Umm…sorry."

Naruto laughed warmly. "Don't worry, I'm not mad or anything. I was just thinking out loud."

Just then, Naruto inhaled a strange scent. He sniffed the air, and recognized it as smoke from a fire.

"Do you guys smell that?" He asked.

Hinata and Suzuka nodded.

He looked around, looking up high for black smoke. He spotted it, far off in the distance. It was in the same direction as….

"Oh no!" He exclaimed. He began to run, worry overflowing. He forgot to grab Suzuka, but Hinata picked her up and followed Naruto. Hinata called his name, but he ignored her. He desperately hoped he was wrong. He had to be wrong. There was no way it could happen!

His fears were realized when he skidded around the corner and took in the sight of his apartment building engulfed in flames.

(Author Notes)

Well, the curse is getting worse. Remember, big plans in store for our hero. I'm interested in what you guys thought about the chapter. Specifically, what do you think about all the fires in the village, and why is Suzuka so interested (really) in Naruto and Hinata.

I'm glad I finally got to this point. This is where the story begins to pick up.

Also, I read every single review I get. I try to reply to them all, so if you would so kindly leave a review it would make my day.

Remember, 5 reviews or no update.

On a youtube partnership note, I recently learned how to make a Scott Pilgrim style flaming sword in after effects. Now I desperately want to make an action video with it.

Until next chapter!